Abstract: The Adolph Sutro Papers consists of correspondence, much of it relating to the Sutro Tunnel Company and to the Funding Bill;
records of the Sutro Tunnel Company including cipher books; documents relating to property holdings in San Francisco, Alameda,
San Mateo and Napa Counties; payrolls and reports for the Cliff House, Sutro Railroad, San Miguel Ranch, Sutro Baths, Sutro
Library, and Sutro Heights; papers relating to Sutro's term as San Francisco Mayor; papers relating to Sutro's estate; and
financial records.

Languages Represented: Collection materials are in English

Physical Location: Many of the Bancroft Library collections are stored offsite and advance notice may be required for use. For current information
on the location of these materials, please consult the Library's online catalog.

Information for Researchers

Access

Collection is open for research.

Publication Rights

All requests to reproduce, publish, quote from, or otherwise use collection materials must be submitted in writing to the
Head of Public Services, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley, 94270-6000. Consent is given on behalf
of The Bancroft Library as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission from the copyright
owner. Such permission must be obtained from the copyright owner. See:
http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/reference/permissions.html .

Restrictions also apply to digital representations of the original materials. Use of digital files is restricted to research
and educational purposes.

Adolph Sutro papers and scrapbooks at the California Historical Society.

Adolph Sutro collection at the California State Library.

Adolph Sutro papers at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.

Separated Material

Photographs have been transferred to the Pictorial Collections of The Bancroft Library. (BANC PIC 1905.17164--PIC).
Portraits transferred to the Portrait Collection of The Bancroft Library.

Indexing Terms

The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.

Sutro, Adolph, 1830-1898--Archives

Sutro, Adolph, 1830-1898--Estate

Sutro Library

Cliff House (San Francisco, Calif.)

Sutro Baths (San Francisco, Calif.)

Sutro Railroad Company (San Francisco, Calif.)

Sutro Tunnel Company

Land tenure--California

Land tenure--Nevada

Mayors--California--San Francisco

Pacific Railroad Funding Bill

Real property--California--San Francisco

Comstock Lode (Nev.)

Sutro Tunnel (Nev.)

Rancho San Miguel (San Francisco, Calif.)

Sutro Heights Park (San Francisco, Calif.)

San Francisco (Calif.)--Politics and government

Deeds

Administrative Information

Acquisition Information

The Adolph Sutro Papers were assembled from various sources by The Bancroft Library. Items purchased in 1939, have been stamped
"Bancroft Library, Sutro, June 1939". Letterbooks, code books, and receipt books were purchased from Wreden. A scrapbook
was purchased from the Plath sale in 1959. Letters and documents removed from another scrapbook were purchased from Albert
Dressler in 1939. Some items relating to the Funding Bill came from the Lyman Library. Other items were purchased from John
Howell Books or transferred from the T.W. Norris collection. Wherever the source was known, it has been indicated on the material.

Accruals

No additions are expected.

System of Arrangement

Arranged to the container level.

Processing Information

Processed by Bancroft Library staff.

Biographical Information

Adolph Heinrich Joseph Sutro, originator of the Sutro Tunnel in Nevada and well-known figure in San Francisco, born of Jewish
parents in 1830 at Aix-la-Chapelle in Germany, left school at sixteen, but continued his education by reading voraciously.
From his father, a cloth manufacturer, Sutro learned factory management. After his father's death in 1847, with business ruined
by the Prussian war, his mother, having to raise seven sons and four daughters, decided to emigrate to the United States in
1850.

Adolph Sutro soon left for California via Panama, the rest of the family remaining in Baltimore. Sutro became a merchant in
San Francisco and Stockton from 1851 to 1859. In 1855 he married Leah Harris, and from this marriage were born six children,
four girls and two boys. As early as 1860, Sutro visited Nevada, learned to amalgamate tailings and created stamp mills in
Carson and Virginia City. Here he planned his famous Tunnel, to drain and ventilate mines in the Comstock Lode, hoping to
reach lucrative financial agreements with mining companies who would thus be benefited, hoping also to strike a rich vein
himself while digging the tunnel. He eventually succeeded in obtaining financial backing in this country and in Europe, got
a charter from Nevada in 1865 and an authorization from Congress in 1866. A company, known as the Sutro Tunnel Company, was
formed, stock sold, and work started in October 1869.

Until 1880 Sutro fought many legislative battles in Washington, D.C., against the Bank Ring and the Bonanza owners, traveled
to New York and Europe incessantly to consult with engineers and capitalists, and at times stayed in his mansion in the town
of Sutro to supervise the tunnel work. Although the tunnel reached the Comstock Lode in 1879, Sutro, weary of the constant
hassles within the Company, sold his interests, investing the proceeds in real estate in San Francisco. He occupied the decade
1880 to 1890 with a trip around the world, a sojourn in Europe, one in Mexico, the organization of the Cliff House and Sutro
Heights, tree planting, and the collection of rare books. In 1892 he constructed the Sutro Baths. In 1894 he was elected Mayor
of San Francisco on the Populist Party ticket. The last year of his life his health declined greatly. He died in 1898.

Scope and Content of Collection

The Adolph Sutro Papers consists of correspondence, much of it relating to the Sutro Tunnel Company and to the Funding Bill;
records of the Sutro Tunnel Company including cipher books; documents relating to property holdings in San Francisco, Alameda,
San Mateo and Napa Counties; payrolls and reports for the Cliff House, Sutro Railroad, San Miguel Ranch, Sutro Baths, Sutro
Library, and Sutro Heights; papers relating to Sutro's term as San Francisco Mayor; papers relating to Sutro's estate; and
financial records.

Container List

Series 1
Correspondencecirca 1864-1897

Physical Description:
Boxes 1-11, 19; Cartons 1-2, 9

Arrangement

Arranged by outgoing and incoming correspondence.

Scope and Content Note

Contains outgoing correspondence in letter books arranged by date; incoming correspondence arranged alphabetically with requests
for work and charity at the end of incoming correspondence.

Outgoing

Box 1

Copies and drafts1864-1897

Carton 1

Letter books (v. 1-26)1870 May-1877 May

Scope and Content Note

Relate mainly to Sutro Tunnel Company affairs. Volumes 5 and 7 include a few letters from Safford to Sutro. Volumes 10-13,
parts of 14-15 and 17-18 duplicate one another. Volumes 25-26 include a few Frank S. Young telegrams and letters to Sutro.

Carton 2

Letter books (v. 27-42)1876 Dec.-1890

Scope and Content Note

Volumes 27-35, (1876-1880), related mainly to Sutro Tunnel Company affairs. Volumes 27 and 29 include letters from Frank S.
Young to Sutro and to Ames. Volumes 36-39 written by Adamson and Watson as agents for Sutro include letters written to Sutro
during his various trips, concerning remittances, rentals and San Francisco property. Volume 40 includes letters to and for
Sutro by Dr. George W. Merritt, his son-in-law, concerning rental care of San Francisco property. Volume 41 includes reports
relating to Sutro Heights, San Miguel Ranch, and other properties written by Merritt, June-Nov. 1889. Volume 42 includes letters
by Watson, as agent for Sutro, with a few from Sutro.

Incoming

Box 2

A

Box 3

B

Box 4

C

Box 5

D-G

Box 6

H-J

Box 7

K-L

Box 8

M

Box 9

N-P

Box 10

Q-Sg

Box 11

Sh-Sz

Box 19

T-Z

Carton 9

Requests for work1894-1896

Carton 9

Requests for charity1891-1897

Scope and Content Note

Offers of curios, paintings, animals (live and preserved) and coins.

Series 2
Political Papers1894-1896

Physical Description:
Carton 3

Arrangement

Arranged hierarchically.

Scope and Content Note

Contains papers relating to Sutro being Mayor of San Francisco.

Carton 3

Mayor of San Francisco1894-1896

Scope and Content Note

Including letters of congratulation, requests for permits, a few anonymous letters, papers relating to the Robinson Bequest
Commission, miscellaneous papers, and clippings.

Series 3
Financial Records1852-1907

Physical Description:
Box 23; Cartons 4-7, 9

Arrangement

Arranged hierarchically.

Accounts

Carton 4

undated

Carton 4

1858-1885

Carton 5

1886-1888

Carton 5

1890-1892

Carton 6

1893-1898

Carton 7

Mortgage notescirca 1872-1896

Carton 7

Tax receiptscirca 1872-1896

Carton 7

Sutro Trust Fund1882

Carton 7

Checkscirca 1872-1896

Carton 7

Bank statementscirca 1872-1896

Carton 7

Transcripts of cash accounts1881-1893

Carton 7

Trial balances1883-1896

Carton 7

Balance sheets1891-1892

Carton 9

Payrolls for Byfield Plantation1884-1885

Carton 9

Payrolls for Cliff House Ranch1890-1907

Carton 9

Payrolls and bids for other San Francisco Property

Box 23

Receipt and accounts books (v. 49-53)1852-1863

Series 4
Property1860-1909

Physical Description:
Cartons 4, 8-9; Oversize folder 1; Tube 1

Arrangement

Arranged hierarchically.

Scope and Content Note

Contains records relating to property owned by Adolph Sutro or his companies in California including San Francisco, and Nevada.
Properties include San Miguel Ranch, Sutro Heights, Sutro Library, Sutro Baths, and Sutro Railroad.

Carton 4

San Francisco1865-1897

Scope and Content Note

Pertain to Sutro's San Francisco property, Byfield Tract, Cliff House Ranch and others, arranged chronologically within each
group.

Carton 4

Alameda, San Mateo and Napa Counties1870-1895

Scope and Content Note

With inventories for Napa County property, Arcadia. (1894-1896)

Carton 4

Nevada1860-1863

Scope and Content Note

Deeds for mining property.

Carton 4

Offers of land for sale (California and Nevada)1891-1896

San Miguel Ranch

Carton 8

Deeds1876-1896

Carton 8

Abstract of title1880

Carton 8

Payrolls1882-1900

Sutro Heights

Carton 8

Payrolls1882-1897

Carton 8

Labor reports1891-1909

Scope and Content Note

Includes Sutro Baths.

Sutro Library

Carton 8

Payrolls1900

Carton 8

Applications for jobs1891-1896

Carton 8

Offers of books and manuscripts for sale.

Sutro Baths

Carton 8

Applications for jobs1894-1896

Carton 8

Payrolls1895-1898, 1907-1909

Carton 8

Receipts1896

Carton 8

Contracts and papers relating to the construction and furnishing of the Baths1891-1897

Carton 8

Contracts and bids relating to music and entertainment at the Baths1893-1897

Sutro Railroad

Carton 9

Bids and contracts1894-1895

Carton 9

Applications for jobsundated

Scope and Content Note

Many from men on strike against the Southern Pacific Railroad. Arranged alphabetically.

Oversize Drawer B, Folder 1

Maps relating to Sutro, Nevada, and the Comstock Lode; drawings of cross sections of Sutro Tunnel; articles of agreement (blank
forms) to be drawn up between the Sutro Tunnel Company and other mining companies.

Tube 1

Rolled blue print profile map of the Sutro Tunnel Company

Series 5
Adolph Sutro's Estate1898-1915

Physical Description:
Boxes 20-21

Arrangement

Arranged hierarchically.

Scope and Content Note

Contains accounts, correspondence and legal documents.

Box 20

Correspondence and legal documents1898-1915

Box 21

Accounts of expenditure1898-1908

Series 6
Sutro Tunnel Company records1869-1888

Physical Description:
Boxes 12-18, 23; Carton 3

Arrangement

Arranged into 2 subseries: Correspondence and Other records.

Subseries 6.1
Correspondence1869-1888

Physical Description:
Boxes 12-18, 23

Arrangement

Arranged hierarchically.

Box 12

W.K. Van Alen, as secretary and general agent in San Francisco1870-1878

Box 12

Pelham W. Ames, secretary, mainly from the San Francisco office, some copies, some incomplete1872-1888